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Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The flip-side of Watsap and miscellany:-

That the Internet technology has invaded one and all quite
profoundly is absolutely no surprise to anyone perhaps. Addictive, tempting,
mania, ‘unputdownable ‘et al are some of the much hackneyed synonyms associated
with the Smartphone. Nonetheless the charms of the virtual world are way beyond
than what meets the eye. As a matter of fact, most technology could easily be categorised
as ‘necessary evil.’ If one really wants to chart out the pros and cons of
technology, we could go on with a long rant; yet that doesn’t exactly stop
mankind from inventing, needless to say that Smartphones reach a virtual high
almost every day- the magnitude of the possibilities in the virtual arena are
simply indefinable. All of us yield to its temptation, be it any feature, at
some point or the other. Those who limit themselves to the non-Smartphone are
still caught in a frenzy of their own- Facebook is still accessible via the
good old desktop! They perhaps are slow in liking/commenting/time-lining and
all other paraphernalia, yet they are very much visibly present in the gamut.
If one really has to trace down addiction to internet technology, then it
should first be pointed out to Google. Come on now, does anyone’s day end
without Google? How many of us diligently reach out to the Dictionary/Thesaurus
(Printed Version strictly)? How many of us genuinely care about Spellings and
Grammar, that is do not look at the Word Prompt and have it corrected? Hasn’t
technology changed the way we read and write? Of course there is a fraction of
populace that perhaps does everything in the same primitive manner even as there
is a technology outburst by the minute, but isn’t that how life in general is?
There is a flip-side to almost everything. This is perhaps why we have a
necessary ‘pros & cons’ and ‘debate’ section at least, right from high-school
education! We are simply trained that way.

What we can change though, as an individual is moderate the
use of technology. The rationale behind moderation entirely rests with the
individual. All of us know that smoking is injurious to health- even with all
the gory images on cigarette packs, people continue to smoke. All we could do is
try and prevent folks from smoking through public interest ads, if one wants to
still succumb; it shall be at their own peril. Alternatively, Smartphone ads are
quirky and appealing- take the recent ‘no ullu banawing ads’ which have been a
constant across all TV channels especially during the election campaigning for
instance. That for sure has accelerated Smartphone sales by a whopping number! The
universal USP though is to ‘stay connected,’ that too in a cost-effective way. The
concept is so simple, which is why Smartphones are such a hit, attracting all
age groups alike! It straightaway hits the ‘loneliness’ factor which when left
unattended, can lead to various other problems. Fortunately with watsap now,
one has the option of hiding the ‘last seen’ status! So while we still stay so
closely networked, we could still choose to avoid contempt by learning when to
shut off rather than whining about technology. Isn’t there a turn-off option in
everything?